Babies won't pick up food

[TitusAndromedon]

My twin boys are six months on Thursday. I intend to do BLW with them, and have given them some bits of finger food to experiment with in the last week or so. However, although they pick up everything else and put it straight in their mouths, they won't pick up food. One of them kind of has a go, but the other won't touch it at all. They do like to use spoons and will happily feed themselves yoghurt, but they don't like me to feed them. My instinct is that this is fine. I'll just keep offering them food and when they're ready they'll pick it up and eat it. However, I'm slightly concerned that I'm being too laid-back in my approach (very much not like me!). Should I take this as a sign that they need purées instead?

[Rosa]

Why not give both so give a puree or mash or whatever and then put a bits of finger food on the plate and see what they do with it.

I wouldn't worry too much you can help a bit if they want I found that a combination of the 2 worked well for me .

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I think you are right, just keep offering and they'll get there eventually.

[TitusAndromedon]

Thanks for the suggestions. I offered them breakfast and lunch today. One dived in enthusiastically and seemed to love it all. The other refused to touch anything, but did taste some broccoli that I held for him, and eventually took a carrot that I handed him and nibbled on it for a while. I tried seeing if he wanted to try some purée on a spoon and he wasn't interested in that either, so I'll just carry on with BLW and hope he learns from his brother!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

That's all you can you. Your job is to offer and theirs is to torment yiu over whether they will or will not eat.

[BabyGanoush]

Just do both, some puree and some finger food.

Finger food first, then top up with mash. The babies need to eat

[scandichick]

Patience! Nothing wrong with traditional weaning like BabyGanoush suggests if that's what you want to do, but:

A) There's more calories in milk than mash for them at the moment, so they will not be missing out if they only play with the food to start with

B) Weaning is about much more than ingesting calories - getting to know different textures, hand coordination, working out how to swallow - it's hardly surprising if it takes many babies a while (like months) to get it.

If it were me, I'd stick to it - I don't think you need to worry!

[Tindel]

DS was like that - he wouldn't pick anything up for ages. I used to hold it up for him and he would take it from my hand. Eventually he got more into it and now picks things up himself quite happily. It took a good few weeks, but he got there in the end

[LifeIsGoodish]

My dc3 was like that: curious about everything, picked up everything, but totally uninterested in eating solid food until about 8.5m. Had he been my first, I'd have been very worried

Just keep offering. They'll eat when they're ready. Milk is still the most important part of their diet at this age, and they won't become deficient in anything, or lose the opportunity to learn how to talk ( that was from a HV with dc1).

I've done both purées and BLW. You can easily combine them and go at baby's pace.

Enjoy your dtbs, and don't stress about the fact that they are individuals who won't necessarily follow the 'rules'

[murphyslaws]

Peas. That's how I started . She rolled them around then one day started popping them in. Now we have peas all the time , whilst I'm shovelling in food

[FellOutOfBedTwice]

My DD took ages to get that food was there to be eaten not just played with or looked at! She's almost two now and a gannet so don't worry!

[TitusAndromedon]

Thanks for all the reassurance. Scandi, your points have pretty much been my way of thinking. Yesterday we offered roasted chicken slices, and roasted parsnips, peppers and carrots. They seemed to love it all. Even the one who won't pick things up was demanding that my husband hold things to his mouth. He got very cross when he didn't! I had a few heart-in-throat moments when the other one had bitten off some big chunks of chicken and was rolling them around in his mouth, but he managed it all fine. Didn't swallow it, really, but didn't choke, either!

I'm actually really enjoying the process with them. It's fun to watch their faces react to different foods and textures, and it seems like they're starting to get excited when they go in their highchairs and see their bibs.

[Artandco]

That's fine. They have only just started. It took mine both about a month to get used to it.
Milk is all calories anyway for now. Make sit far easier for you also with two that they can feed themselves shortly

[BonerSibary]

Some of them just don't. It isn't necessarily about not wanting food either, it can be about not being arsed to pick it up themselves! One of mine was just the same as your DS who was demanding things to be held to his mouth. Until then, I had bought into the idea that they'll feed themselves when they're ready. Turns out that was not, in fact, the case!

You're clearly doing well, so just keep offering a mixture of opportunities, spoon and finger food, and they'll find their way. Which may not be the same way as each other, iyswim. Babies are very varied so there's no reason why you couldn't get one puree monster and one spoon refuser in the same family. I only have singletons, but their weaning styles were quite different.